NB Quality of Life Best in Canada

April 6, 2017

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A “report card” released by the Conference Board of Canada this morning reveals that despite having less robust economies, Atlantic Canada provinces report above-average levels of life satisfaction.

The Conference Board of Canada released a report this morning titled “How Canada Ranks: Society,” that ranked Canada on a national, provincial and international level for its performance in several social metrics such as poverty, income inequality, immigrant wage gap, jobless youth, etc., to award 26 jurisdictions a grade between A and D.

According to the Conference Board of Canada’s chief economist, Craig Alexander, there’s more to these grades than meets the eye. While researching this study, Alexander was surprised at the stark contrast between the poor social performance of the majority of Atlantic provinces and their populations’ higher-than-average levels of life satisfaction.

Alexander explains that this report represents the metrics by which Canadians experience their everyday lives. “As an economist, we tend to think of economic growth as a factor of success, but nobody eats GDP,” says Alexander.

The jurisdictions include Canada on a national level, individual Canadian provinces and several other countries. Overall, Canada achieved a “B” grade, and no Canadian province ranked lower than a “C” grade. New Brunswick led the pack, placing 10th among 26 jurisdictions. However, P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia all achieved “C” grades for their social performance.